I've had little butler's for years in two places with zero problems going on 9 years. Franke doesn't make the heater/tank and I'm not sure who does. It is exactly like a lot of others on the market from the likes of Mountain Plumbing and others.

ISE's new system that replaced a unit they had tons of problems with claims to be all stainless.

There is really nothing wrong with the LB, yes the plastic hoses and fittings can leak . But so can copper lines. IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO OPERATOR error. If installed properly by a patient plumber the hoses and fittings work fine. Wanna do it in 10 minutes and get the the next customer? Your gonna have problems.

Re: the tanks, they are just like any other electric tank heater and subject to the same problems. Crappy water into them produces corrosion on the element and tank. Franke supplies a filter that alleviates much of this and should provide at least 10 yrs service unless your water is absolute crap AND or you don't change the filter. Because the tanks are very small the process can take very little time.

I'm in the market as well and was told Water Inc is the best (they also make Everpure). Another is Waterstone (if I remember right, they come in more styles/colors).
I'm getting hot and cold filtered at the sink and haven't chosen it yet. Let us know what you end up with.

I was interested in hearing what worked for people too. When we remodeled our kitchen (about 5 years ago) We got a Franke. It failed in less than a year (our water is high quality). I didn't know the tank was leaking and it warped the inside of the wooden cabinet and did some floor damage too. Franke sent a person out right away to replace the tank. The second tank lasted just over a year. It too leaked all over the place.

So I switched to Insinkerator. That tank just failed last month. It is about 2 1/2 years old and still under warrantee. I'm going to contact them and see what their policy is about replacing the tank.

It would be nice to have one of these that didn't develop a leaky tank.

I have had at least 3 Insinkerators fail - the last one was a stainless one that the burner element corroded and leaked last November.

Then hot water dispenser is fed by a RO water filter with a high output membrane (50gal per day) - so water quality shouldn't be a problem and ISE told us that install would be fine...I am not happy with their brand.

I recently installed a KA hot water dispenser after an ISE started leaking after 3 years. I'm not sure of the model number as they discontinued and replaced with this one: Kitchen Aid KHWG160PSS. Mine looks exactly like this and at the time I could not find a difference in my research. All I know is I got it for less than half the price that this model is currently listed at as it was a close out. The dispenser is very heavy, beautifully made. hand polished. Easy to install.

ISE's are all over but in addition to the tanks leaking like a sieve after a few years, the dispensers are really poor. Handles come off in your hand. I had one do this at a local appliance store and the sales person said that happened all the time and they could not fix it. Made me feel somewhat better as the same thing was happening to ours.

I thought about adding a hot water dispenser to our kitchen refresh but after researching and hearing stories or leaks after leaks I decided it wasn't worth the risk. The upside is instant hot water, the down side is a ruined cabinet or worse water damage. We heat water for tea in a tea kettle. On the inducton cooktop it takes about as long as ti does to get the cup and tea out. The upside was not worth the downside.

As far as I know most hot water dispenser tanks are made by the same manufacturer so if one of them won't work for you, there is little point in trying others. Because these water heaters are very small, it takes a short time for water to eat away the anode and corrode the valves and sometimes good-quality water can be even worse. Water with few minerals dissolved in it will work faster on the metal. In any case, I would go for Waste King. It builds all the tanks used in all other brands, rated as one of the best hot water dispensers and looks like a cost-efficient choice on the whole.